Ooyala, the Telstra-owned multiscreen OTT specialist, has filed a federal lawsuit against rival Brightcove over allegations that the company and certain employees of Brightcove “engaged in deliberate and wilful misappropriation of proprietary trade secrets.”
In the suit, Ooyala claims that those trade secrets and proprietary info spans customer contact lists, confidential sales pitches and pricing, marketing plans and corporate strategies.
Ooyala claims that the alleged misappropriation was being used to undermine and exploit Ooyala’s business dealings and sales efforts for Brightcove’s benefit throughout Latin America.
Ooyala said it is seeking a court trial and an injunction against Brightcove in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, and is asking the company and its employees to return all proprietary materials and destroy all customer information stemming from the allegations.
The six-count filing also includes allegations of “deceptive business practices, tortious interference and breach of contract.” Ooyala said it gave Brightcove notice once it uncovered the evidence tied to those allegations and that it believes that Brightcove continued to use that information after notice was given.
Brightcove said it reviewed the assertions made by Ooyala in good faith, but that Ooyala “disengaged” from those discussions and pushed ahead with the lawsuit. Brightcove’s full statement is as follows:
“We are aware of Ooyala’s assertions concerning the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. When first alerted to these assertions by Ooyala, we reviewed them in good faith and reached out to Ooyala in an effort to address its concerns. Ooyala disengaged from that conversation and then filed this suit. Brightcove believes that this lawsuit is entirely without merit. We are working to resolve the matter, which is narrowly focused on a particular region and does not concern our products, services or technology.”
Ooyala said it has made “significant investments in Latin America,” including an R&D office in Guadalajara, and sales, marketing and channel efforts in Argentina, Brazil, the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru.
